424 
PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION D. 
friend, Mr. C. C. Brittlebank : It is morn in the full flush of 
spring. A heron ( Ardea nov<B~hollandim ) rises from a swamp near, 
and is leisurely winging its way, when behold like a streak in the 
distance is seen our bold little fellow, the Sparrow-hawk, heading 
straight for the large bird. Presently the bird of prey swoops down, 
and, for a wonder, undershoots its mark, caused by a strategic 
upward curve of the heron, but the hawk, equal to the occasion, and 
with a rapid turn, fairly throws itself at the large bird’s wing, which 
breaks with a loud report. Then the poor bird commences to form 
spiral circles earthward, the game little hawk sticking to its quarry 
the while. Besides my friend, others had been watching the combat — 
to wit, ten or a dozen magpies ( Gymnorhina leuconoto ), v*hich now 
came up on hurrying wings. Then occurs upon the ground such a 
scene — the wounded heron hoarsely calling, all the magpies scolding 
and fiercely picking the screaming hawk, which has a rough time of it, 
and seems much relieved at Mr. Brittlebank’s near approach, causing 
the much too pugnacious “ magpies” to scatter. The hawk quickly 
follows, but in the opposite direction, and there is only left the 
stately heron with a fractured carpal joint. 
I possess other evidence of the bold and desperate character of 
the Sparrow-hawk. A farmer friend told me how on one occasion he 
beheld a large white rooster in the field beheaded by the little bird of 
prey; while Mr. William Bateman, a duck-shooter of twenty years* 
experience in the Murray liiver district, lias witnessed the hawk put 
on a terrific spurt to overtake flying ducks, then, suddenly making a 
swoop from behind on outstretched wings, deal a duck a blow that 
fells it dead. Twice Mr. Bateman has seen coots decapitated, and 
relates how he and his brother procured a bustard or wild turkey 
without spending ammunition. The turkey was seen to rise well 
out of range, and was flying away when a little hawk was observed 
coming up at right angles to the turkey’s flight, and, making an 
exceedingly swift cut, clean scalped the great bird. When the 
sportsmen picked up the turkey it was quite dead. 
Mr. Hermann Lau, formerly of South Queensland, furnishes us 
with the remarkable fact of the great cuckoo or channel-bill 
(< Scythrops ) depositing its egg in the nest of a Sparrow-hawk, or a 
nest, at all events, where the Sparrow-hawk had laid. In September, 
1874, near Yandilla, he found the hawk’s nest, which was situated high 
in the branches of a tree. It contained two eggvS nearly incubated, 
hut, to his intense surprise, one was evidently the large purplish-brown 
egg of the channel-bill, or, as it is called in the interior, the rain- 
bird. 
The breeding season generally of the Collared Sparrow-hawk is 
included in the months from August to November, and possibly 
December. 
Uroaetus audax, Latham. 
(Wedge-tailed Eagle — Eagle-hawk.) 
Figure. — Gould: “Birds of Australia,” fol., vol. i., pi. 1. 
Previous Descriptions of Fggs. — Ramsay : “Ibis,” vol. v., p. 446 
(1863); Gould: “Birds of Australia,” Handbook, vol. i., p. 10 (1865). 
Geographical Distribution . — Whole of Australia and Tasmania. 
